Phillips' penalty set the Browns up to take the lead over Dallas with about a minute left

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Cowboys tight end/special teams type guy John Phillips maintains that he got all hair when he brought the Browns’ Josh Cribbs down from behind on that fourth quarter punt return and we’re inclined to believe him because, well, we were watching.

Unfortunately, neither we or Phillips were asked about the matter, and Phillips was flagged for a horse collar to give the Browns the ball at the Dallas 17-yard line. A play later, Benjamin Watson caught his second touchdown of the day from Brandon Weeden to give Cleveland the 20-17 lead with just over a minute left.

As we know now, Dallas would come back to tie it up at 20 and finish the job in overtime, thanks to a pair of field goals by Dan Bailey. But, Phillips admits, he thought he may have played a part in costing Dallas the game for a little while--which, even a day later, left the Cowboy just a little miffed.

“Well, it sucks,” Phillips said. “It’s unfortunate, because I put our defense and our team in a compromising situation. We had to punt the ball back to them, and I give them 15 more yards, and then they scored on the next play. Obviously, I felt terrible. I guess it’s not a reviewable play, right? It’s just one of those things.”

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